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Chapter 5 - Morning Breaks

When I went to the interview, I had in mind how my first day at a new, normal, job would be. My first day as a slave, was remarkably similar, at first anyway.

The alarm in Kat's room blared out softly. Kat grumbled as she turned over to peer at the time, which appeared to be 1:00. She swiftly silenced it with a slap to the button. She then turned over to sleep more, muttering about faulty alarms.

Less than a minute later, the door to the room slipped open and Nera climbed carefully onto her bed. "Time to wake up sleepyhead!" she half-shouted, way too loudly for what seemed such an early time.

"But it's 1 o'clock " Kat murmured sleepily, before almost bolting up. "Wait, is it afternoon? I missed the inter..." She cut herself off mid-sentence as she looked around, seeing Nera and the room. "Oh, right."

"Yes, it is one, but the clocks here are different." Nera smiled as she rolled off the bed. "It's about eight in the morning."

Kat grumbled lightly as she started to get up, looking around for her clothing. "How long did it take you to get used to different times? "

In answer, Nera just shrugged and brought up her wrist, upon which was a plain and simple digital watch. "I actually have a regular watch that Master gave me"

"I take it this time is unique to this place then?" Kat found the chest at the foot of her bed.

"Well, more or less," Nera explained. "I think the other facilities, like this one, use the same thing on their local time"

Kat nodded softly. "But, wherever it is you come from, doesn't?" She was curious, wanting to find out anything she can about the mysterious place she and her brother were captured for.

"Nope, we need to use normal clocks at home." Nera watched as Kat peered into the chest . "Children going to school, adults going to school, other stuff like that."

"That's good." Kat says with a soft sigh of relief "With my memory? I would be thoroughly confused most of the day." Rummaging through the chest, Kat finds a rather simple outfit: a light blue buttoned shirt, khaki work pants, and some plain (rather utilitarian) underwear.

"Do you want to shower before you get dressed?" Nera seemed happy, though she was still wearing her nightgown.

Grabbing a single set of clothes, and placing them on the bed, Kat nodded. "Sounds good." She smiled to Nera softly. "I showered yesterday... I think? How long was I out? But, considering I don't know most of what happened? A shower sounds a good idea"

Nera nods softly. "I'll get dressed while you shower, See you in a little bit"

"Got it!" Kat smiled and hurried to the shower, slipping off her nightgown as soon as she entered the bathroom. After turning on the water, she started to wash, using only fur shampoo products. Though she washed quickly, she was careful,, under the idea that being late for first day of work (even for people who have kidnapped you) would not be a good idea, not to mention probably rude. Kat finished her shower quickly, but spent a moment enjoying the hot water and stretching her muscles. Still, after a moment she turned it off and looked around for a towel. She couldn't find any large enough.

Nera knocked on the door. "You finished yet?"

"Just trying to dry off in here," Kat replied. She was still looking around, worried she would have to try and use the small towel she thought was a hand towel.

"Can I come in?"

Kat blushed and nodded to this, then realized, "No, your flatmate does not likely have x-ray vision." With a bit of a wavering voice, she said,"Okay?"

Nera entered the room after a few seconds, wearing similar clothes to those Kat had found in her own chest, although 'Nera's pants were hemmed to just below her knees, and the shirt was only half length, exposing her tummy. "There's an air dryer built into the shower... It's not marked for some reason, but this button starts it." Nera pointed to a moderately sized rectangle button below the water knob. "Press that and it will open some panels that blow-dry your fur, okay?"

Kat got back into the shower, blushing as she looked at the button indicated. "Oh... I pressed that while in the shower. It seemed to do nothing, so I ignored it. Safety feature I guess?" She pressed the button.

"Yeah, it only works when the water is off, electrocution is not fun, uncontrolled anyway." Nera smiled softly, then left the room. As she did, panels in the side and top of the shower opened up and warm air started to blow at Kat from all angles.

Kat stretched in the airflow, luxuriating in the hot air a bit, though not for too long. She concentrated on making sure she was dry, then quickly went to her bedroom "Thank you for that, Nera." Kat blushed during the whole dash from the shower to her room.

"No problem." Nera smiled and followed Kat to her bedroom, though she stayed behind the door while Kat got dressed.

Kat dressed quickly, the style of clothing nothing particularly new for her. As soon as she opened the door, she asked, "So... How do I look?" She gave a playful grin and a single twirl. "I must admit, when I think about being kidnapped and all that, this is not the clothing that comes to mind." She smiled and let out a weak laugh, trying to find the humour.

Nera was smiling, and answered with an energetic, "You look great." She hugged Kat at the attempted joke, then spoke softly. "Master's choice is working casual. There's other stuff, and you'll probably see some of the other uniforms in a bit. Let's go get food, though."

"So, luck of the draw, if any luck other than bad was involved here?" At the mention of food, though Kat nodded. "Food does sound good"

"Luck? If you look at it that way." Nera led Kat out to the hall and knocking on the next door over. After waiting for a minute with no reply, she smiles. "I guess they've already gone to breakfast. We're going to be in the central cafeteria for meals today, so you'll see plenty of other people who are living here"

"Oh... Okay?" Kat's voice wavered a bit, though she still nodded to Nera. She had just realised this would be the first time people here would see her, in general.

As they headed for the cafeteria, Nera tried to calm Kat down. "Don't be too worried. Almost everybody here has been in your position at some point or other."

"What if someone I know is there?" Kat asked worriedly, hoping her fears were unfounded. "What would they think?"

"Do you know anybody who has disappeared mysteriously?" Nera wrapped an arm around Kat's shoulders. "Lots of slaves are taken against their will. Some choose it, and a few are forced into it by family. So again, do you know anyone who has disappeared mysteriously?"

"No. I mean, not really, only the usual drifting away that happens after school. My best friend moved to Alaska or something." Kat continued listing schoolmates she hadn't seen in a while until they entered the cafeteria.

This cafeteria was a larger, and at the moment, louder one than the one in which they ate their supper last night. All sorts of different people were scattered about, with odd groupings that seemed to share similar clothing. There seemed to be a ratio of between two and three females to each male.

As Kat grew silent, Nera squeezed her gently. "I would say, don't expect to meet anyone you used to know in here, unless you know they're into this stuff." She led Kat in further. "These are just stories to me, but I've heard that sometimes parents in enough financial trouble will sell their kids to a slaver to get through their hardships. Sometimes, they aren't able to buy the kids back."

"Okay, then." Kat smiled softly, but still nervously, looking around at the amount of people. Then, the last bit really sank in. "Wow."

Nera spotted a red-haired girl waving to the pair, and nudged Kat to point her out. "There's Mina. Let's go grab our food and meet her and your brother."

Kat nodded. She looked towards the food eagerly, and quickly took a place in the line. There being only a few people in front, she soon arrived at the start of the food line, and smiled to the cooking uniform clad people behind the counter. Looking over the food, she almost purred at the sight of scrambled eggs, a fair variety of vegetables, toast and meats, and even beans. She requested some of the eggs, some peppers, fried tomatoes, and mushrooms, and some toast.

Nera smiled and got herself some eggs, fried peppers and onions, two slices of ham, and topped her tray off with one slice of toast and half a grapefruit. With their meals in hand, the two went to the table to find Mina finishing off an apple, and Peter tucking into a similar meal to Kat's.

"Heya sis," Peter grinned. "Fashionable clothes there."

"Thanks," Nera replied before Kat had a chance to speak up. "Master let me get it customised to show off these abs." She winked at Peter as she sat down.

Peter smiled. "Right, yours are nice too."

Kat smiled some at the banter, though she was focused on settling down to eat. Her mind was already on the day ahead, attempting to prepare for whatever might come her way.